True Love of Mine
by Tardling
Summary: You can't just turn away! You can't just let things lie!" his breath seethed through his thin lips, desperate rasps, and nothing more. She smiled at him, a sweet, sad smile, "Yes, Gippal. I can. I can, and I will." [[RIKKUxGIPPAL]]
1. A Lonely Thing

WOO! Prologue! -insert victory parade here- Anyway, just incase you're STILL wondering exactly what this sotry is about, well, silly, it's about Rikku and Gippal! Ther isn't much Rikku/Gippal in this little vignette before it really gets going, but I promise, if you guys want another chapter, it will be EXPLODING with them! Moving on...  
  
Disclaimer: "Silly rabbit! FFX-2 belongs to Square Enix."  
  
----  
  
It as amzing how fast people could change, Rikku noted to herself, standing at the crumbling edge of the sandy cliff, overlooking the beach.   
  
The sky was bright, the air was warm, and what else could she possibly hope for? It was the New Year! One whole year had come and gone since the beginning of the second calm. She was eighteen now, and hardly child, or so she liked to think, but her mind drifted back to changing people. Yuna, Tidus, Lulu, Wakka...especially Wakka -she chuckled in spite of the thought- had all grown, become different and better people. More and more true to the way they someday were meant to truly project, so why did she feel stuck? Captured in a rift? It was as if she couldn't move forward, maybe that was what caused all of her drastic physical changes, and somewhat, a taking after Paine.  
  
Rikku's thought's were shattered by a babies giggle, and she turned.  
  
"Hi, Lulu." Rikku said, elated to see her, and the baby. Yes, Rikku hadn't changed at all, where it counted, she was still just as cheery as she could ever be, "Hi, Vidina!"  
  
"What're you doing up here?" asked Lulu, trying to get a firm grasp on the squirming child. Rikku smiled, and shrugged, taking from her, the little boy, and bouncing him up and down, until he settled gently into the crook of her arms, staring back at his mother with wide eyes, and chewing dumbly on his hand.  
  
"Thinking s'all." Replied the small Al Bhed girl, rocking the baby against her stomach, arms locked under his tiny rubbery limbs, and back to her.  
  
Lulu nodded, walking to the edge Rikku had stood on moments before, "You've been on Besaid quite awhile Rikku, when do you plan to go home?"  
  
She heard a heart-heavy sigh from behind, and threw her eyes over the shrinking girl...no, she was a woman now. A thought that made Lulu smile.  
  
"I-I don't know. I don't want to. I'm not ready to settle down, and have a family, which is exactly what I'll be expected to do." Rikku sat down, corssing her legs, placing Vidina in her lap, who was beginning to doze, "I'm not ready to lose control."  
  
The now seasoned mother smiled, a knowing look and nodded, "I wouldn't want to either. I'm guessing that's why you've changed so much."  
  
Rikku perked up at her words, "Have I?" she asked, a little excited, a little scared.  
  
Lulu nodded, "Yes and no. On the outside, yes. You're black clothes, and peirced lip. The colors in your hair. They all scream, 'I'm in control!', but on the inside, you're still Rikku. Lovable, happy, beautiful Rikku."  
  
The Al Bhed girl smiled at this, yet her insides were frowning. It was true. Her colorful wardrobe was gone, replaced with black, low slung linen pants, and a bikini top to match. Her hair had become littered with an unnatural red color jolting through it with spontinaity, all thanks to the dying power of a certain sort of berry, and last but not least, the ring through her lip. If that wasn't a cry for help, what was? But that wasn't it, what about the other peircings you couldn't see? Like the one in her tongue for example? She sighed.  
  
"You can't force change, Rikku. Just like you can't capture control. If they were so easy to obtain, the world either be perfect, of in utter chaos." Lulu looked over the ocean, then watched as Vidina finally tumbled off to dream land in the young lady's arms.  
  
"I need to go home, I guess. But, it can wait until tomorrow, at least!" Rikku's voice regained it cheery twinge, "Tonight, there's a New Year's bash in Luca! Anyone who's anyone will be there."  
  
Lulu shook her head, taking the sleeping shild into her motherly cradle, and shook her head, "Not I."  
  
"Well, of course not! You're not anybody! But Yuna will be there! I'll make her! Where is she anyway?" Rikku jumped up in excitment, quieting after being signaled by Lulu to do so, for sake of the baby.  
  
"She's with Tidus, most certainly, and last time I saw him, he was playing blitzball with Wakka." said the ex-guardian in a flat, but not unhappy tone.  
  
Rikku put a finger to her cheek, "Shoulda' figured. It's nice to see her happy with him. Everyone's found eachother," she began her decent down a grassy hill, Lulu at her side.  
  
"Not everyone," said Lulu, looking forward.  
  
"Who else?" asked poor puzzled Rikku, pausing her walk for a moment, before skipping to catch up.  
  
"You."  
  
"Me?!" her face flushed, and Lulu gave her a smirk.  
  
"Or maybe not, that look suggests that, maybe I'm wrong. Found someone of your own, Rikku?" They were now back in the village, the sounds of children, dogs, and blitzball players cluttering the calm in the air.  
  
"NO!" Rikku shouted, and Vidina stirred from sleep to cry.  
  
Lulu wrapped her arms around him, and began to rock him instinctively, until he began to hush.  
  
"CUNNO!" (SORRY!) said the girl just as loud as before.  
  
"Shh!" scolded Lulu, who then smiled and excused herself with the child, leaving a wondering, distraught Rikku to stand on her own, and that is exactly what she did.  
  
The thought of everyone finding their equal half really started to grate on her. Was she destined to live out her life as a spinster? Or marry someone she truly didn't love, all for culture's sake? Was there no one she felt connected to, not even once in her life, then a figment caught her off guard, a face running through her mind. Blonde hair, and one good eye. Rikku shuddered, and immediately dismissed the thought, even scolded herself for thinking it. The last person she would be caught with would be Gippal! He was just a big meanie, after all.  
  
----  
  
A/N: Yeah, so...there's thr prologue. I bet I know what you're all thinking! Why's Lulu talking to Rikku? Well, Rikku always looked up to Lulu, and...you know what, I bet you all don't really care. .  
  
Anyway, this story is being written on a whim! It has no end in sight, so far, but this will be it, if know one else wants anymore. So please, if you wanna' see some more, READ + REVIEW!  
  
That is all, you may now continue on with youyr daily routines.  
  
(PS: Please excuse all spelling an grammer errors, or let me know if you see any. THANKS!) 


	2. Luca

Rikku looked herself once over in the mirror. Hair, check. Make-up, check. Yes, she was ready, and at perfect timing.  
  
"Rikku, hurry up!" Tidus yelled, sticking his head in the door of her room.  
  
"You hurry up!" she yelled back, skipping out of the hotel room, and looking over him and Yuna. She could already hear the party raging outside of the hotel they were in. Yes, Luca was a terribly busy place for tonight.  
  
"Oh, Yuna! You look so good!" Rikku commented on her cousin, as they began the walk down the hall, granted she didn't look much different from usual, but still, that wasn't the point.  
  
"You too." She smiled at him, looking around Tidus he stood in the middle of them, arms behind his head, whistling.  
  
It wasn't long before they were outside, surrounded by such hustle and bustle, and it was a struggle to stay together, until they reached a high point, above the town center, where they managed to commandeer a small table, against the railing of a restaurant, much to small for this kind of attention, but the view was great. Rikku could see all of Luca at this point.  
  
It was awhile before she recognized anyone, Tidus making a drink run more than once, and she sipped on, well..whatever it was he got for her, before a hand crashed down onto her shoulder, and she was startled out of her wits, dropping her drink.  
  
"RUMO CRED!" (HOLY SHIT!)  
  
She jumped up, and angry turning around at the hand, eyes flashing.  
  
"My, my, if it isn't---" his voice caught a moment. This wasn't Cid's girl, he thought to himself suddenly, taking note of piercings and make-up, along with the state of her colorless clothing, or lack there of. Whoever this was, this is not the Rikku he had seen just over a year ago.  
  
"---Rikku." He finished, instead.  
  
"Oui busbuic zang! E cbemmat so tnehg." (You pompous jerk! I spilled my drink.)  
  
Gippal was suddenly very aware of the situation, and covered up his surprise quickly with a nod to the High Summoner, and to the man who kept calling himself Tidus, as if hoping someone would hear him.  
  
Baralai, always the gentlemen, reached out from behind Gippal, and handed Rikku a long cloth napkin, which she took gratefully, blushing and wiping the sticky liquid away from her lap, as she stood awkwardly. The blush made something dark churn in Gippal, and he suddenly had an urge to toss Baralai away from her, but his steady.  
  
"Thank you." Rikku said happily, setting the cloth on the table, moping up the rest of the spilled liquid, and nodded to him, sitting back down, as Yuna and Tidus stood up.  
  
"We're gonna' go dance and stuff." Tidus said, pulling at Yuna's hand, and dragging her away with a smile. Rikku nodded, and wished them luck, setting her arms behind her head, bracelets banging together.  
  
"Sit down." She said to Baralai, and he did so shyly, looking at her with a great sparkle. She gave Gippal and indifferent glance as he did so, as well.  
  
"So, how're you two?"  
  
"Oh, fine thank you." Baralai said simply, and she smiled at him.  
  
"What about Home," she looked hopefully at Gippal, and he glared in return.  
  
"Re-construction would have gone faster if you had been around to help." He teased lightly, and was suddenly sorry for doing so as her face darkened. It was true, she should have been there, if for nothing else, for her father and her brother.  
  
Baralai noted the sudden atmospheric change in her demeanor, and with a sudden, un-thought through bout, stood, offering his hand to her.  
  
"Would you like to dance?" he asked lightly, trying to sound as confident as he could, trying desperately to ignore the daggers Gippal was sending. Rikku saw them too, and looked at Baralai, taking his hand gratefully, sticking her pierced tongue out at the Al Bhed man, and the were whisked into the crowd, leaving a red face Gippal behind.  
  
A/N: Okay, I know what you're all thinking, that this blew...and, I took forever. I did, I'm sorry! I set up the end of the last chapter so bad, it was hard to start this one. I'm sorry. It's going to take a little while before we get to the REAL Gippal/Rikku stuff, and I that a little Baralai in there for spice. I hope you all don't hate me now. ^_^ 


End file.
